Posted by Raphael on Feb 5, 2013 in Inspiration, My Business Adventures | 0 comments

I found one really good by-product of being self-employed was the fact that there wasn’t really one spot that tied me down as my “office”. Yes, I had set myself up very comfortably with my own home office…painted it up really nice, bought myself a nice desk with fancy lap and just about all the tech conveniences I need to do my work. But I liked the fact I could pick up my laptop, jump out to my living room sofa behind the TV and continue working.

Beyond that, a good deal of my time was spent on the road, either promoting my business or meeting with clients. A good bunch of my time was spent sitting around at one coffee shop or another. So much so that I often referred to my local Starbucks as my “second office”. I recall a period where I’d visit the Starbucks and in one 30 minute visit I randomly met and knew about 5 or 6 people I either identified as clients or network friends there. They all similarly called Starbucks their “second office” as well. It was both mildly pathetic, yet kinda cool at the same time. We were all doing business in a very comfortable and social way.

I kind of miss that. My past few months has been spent in a State office on a college campus starting at cubicles and a brick wall. Granted they gave me one of the biggest rooms on campus and I have it all to myself right now, but it’s still not an environment that I would describe as “social” or “fun”.

So when this article arrived in a tweet this morning “Why You Should Work From A Coffee Shop, Even When You Have An Office”, it certainly gave me some new incentive to get myself out of this office maybe once a week to go work somewhere else for a change. The idea came to mind that I should encourage or make my staff go out and do this as well?  Is that crazy?  I got to get these guys thinking creatively! (photo: Fast Company)